With Zack Greinke on the shelf, the Brewers badly need Shaun Marcum -- who missed his previous spring start with shoulder soreness and has some injury history -- to come out of camp healthy. He threw four innings Monday in his last spring outing and felt fine. (Brewers blog )

So that's the good news.

The bad news is the Brewers have been injury-riddled this spring -- they'll start with five players on the disabled list -- and it's exposed the fragile thin layer of major-league talent they have.

There is certainly reason for optimism in Milwaukee, because they have some really good players. They can hit the ball, have good starting pitching -- so long as everyone is healthy, that is -- and what appears to be a capable closer. But when you're trading for Sergio Mitre and Nyjer Morgan in the last few days of spring to shore up depth, that's hardly a flawless team. Injuries can bury this team, the spring should merely serve as a warning.

With the Reds' injury woes, Adam Wainwright going down and Cubs having obvious flaws, this seems like a race that will be determined by the team with the best luck in terms of health. And the Brewers are already starting off on the wrong foot, even if Marcum felt fine Monday night. SAVING CASHNER: The Cubs correctly named Andrew Cashner the fifth member of the starting rotation over the former albatross, Carlos Silva. There are concerns with Cashner's workload, however, as he's never thrown more than 111 1/3 innings in a season. As a full-time starter, he should be expected to go over 150. The Cubs have pointed out they will "constantly" monitor his load this season, in terms of pitches and innings, to ensure the long-term health of their former first-rounder. (Chicago Sun-Times )

PEREZ PUKES, IS PEEVED: So Indians closer Chris Perez threw up on the back-end of the mound in the ninth inning of a spring game Monday (Jordan Bastian via Twitter), but then threw out a tweet himself about it, saying, "all right, enough of all this Perez threw up bs, I had low blood sugar and was dizzy, and only water came up."

THE AMAZING ECKSTEINS: I'm not even going to try and do this justice. It's too long and too good. Just read the whole thing. David Eckstein's family has donated five kidneys to each other and another six more are likely to be needed. David hasn't taken a turn yet, but he's "on deck." (The Post Game )

PRIOR DETERMINED:Mark Prior was demoted all the way to Class-A after a spring that saw him put up a 1.17 ERA in 7 2/3 innings of work. He still feels like he's going to help the Yankees at some point this season, and manager Joe Girardi said, "I think he's got a pretty good shot." (ESPN New York )

OH JOSE: Jose Canseco did some nice work on Twitter Monday. Let's see ... he said ESPN is owned by Major League Baseball, so they lie. "You will never know the real truth is you keep listening to the media." (That one was weird for me because I have never, ever been told what I can or cannot write by anyone). And the cherry on top, this gem: "Just remember the media is write 20 percent of 50 percent of the time." That one was aptly followed by him accusing other people of being ignorant. This all came on the heels of the news that Canseco pulled a bait-and-switch at a charity boxing event. Of course, Canseco's whole reason for the tirade was that he wanted to see if anyone was smart enough to figure out what actually happened. And it's all the media's fault. The funny thing is, Twitter is a media that gives Canseco a forum to tell his side. Don't tell us to guess what happened. Don't take a few days to reveal what happened, as it looks like you're cooking up a story, Jose. If there's a different truth, just tell it. But that's the problem, isn't it? (Jose Canseco via Twitter)

MOST DEPRESSED? A website put together a list of the most depressed baseball cities among the 18 teams that haven't won the World Series in the past 20 years. Oddly enough, Washington D.C. checked in at the top. These types of things are pretty immeasurable, really, but I guess it's entertaining enough to look at this point. We're just killing time until opening day anyway by now. (via Ultimate Astros ) MATUSZ STRUCK, STILL OPTIMISTIC:Orioles starting pitcher Brian Matusz was throwing a simulated game when he was struck in his left biceps by a line drive, forcing him to stop his session well early. It's fortunately just a bruise, as the Orioles aren't even going to go through precautionary X-Rays. He's had a rough spring, but still remains confident for the regular season. (MASN.com )

SALT RIVER FIELDS FOREVER: The Diamondbacks and Rockies shared the new Salt River Fields facility this spring and it has been all the rage from pretty much everyone who has seen the place. The attendance has shown the popularity, as the place has drawn pretty staggering numbers. The D-Backs have drawn over 189,000 fans, averaging 11,161 per game. The number is almost double last season's spring attendance for the Snakes. The Rockies have similar figures, bringing in 10,485 fans per game, just about double last season's number. The facility has set all kinds of attendance records, with the Diamondbacks ranking first in spring attendance and the Rockies checking in at No. 3 -- the Yankees were second. (MLB.com )

NO BRACKETS FOR YOU: With the gambling accusations against former clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels, the Mets have refrained from running any NCAA basketball tournament bracket competitions. Manager Terry Collins said there was no specific mandate to avoid it, but everyone just thought it would be a bad idea. They must have known how things were going to shake out, huh? (Newsday )

ON-DECK ACCOUNT: Remember Aaron Guiel? He played for the Royals from 2002-2006 and then a little bit for the Yankees late in '06. Well he plays in Japan now, and he was on deck in a NPB game in Yokohama when the big earthquake happened. He described the event from his point of view to Canadian Baseball Network .

LEYLAND ON 'PLAYER X:' By now everyone's surely heard of ESPN the Magazine's "Player X," in which an anonymous player writes about the sport in which he plays. The latest baseball entry, "Player X" took on Miguel Cabrera, specifically wondering why he doesn't pay someone to drive him when he's out drinking. Tigers manager Jim Leyland didn't care for the column, saying: “To me that’s a gutless (jerk) that doesn’t put his name to it. If somebody would have said, ‘Hey, this is Jim Leyland and this is what I say, he should do this or this, then that’s fine. But when you (another expletive) hide behind somebody else’s expense, that’s chicken (expletive) to me." (Detroit Free-Press ) I can see the logic in that. Since my name is on this, I'll ask the same question, though: How do any players ever get a DUI? Miguel Cabrera makes $20 million a year. Why can't he -- or anyone else in the league who has gotten (or will get) a DUI -- pay someone something like $50,000 a year to be his driver? It would make things easier on everyone -- provide a job to someone, avoid the questions of alcoholism, keep guys out of jail, etc. I just don't get it.

Canseco deserves all the credit in the world for breaking the steroid scandal, but don't forget the only reason he did so was to make a quick buck.

And now Canseco isn't above pulling bait-and-switches for a few grand, as Celebrity Boxing's Damon Feldman found out Saturday night in Hollywood, Fla. Canseco has attempted to box before, but was knocked out by former NFL player Vai Sikahema in one match, lost to a 60-year-old assistant athletic director from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock in another and fought Danny Bonaduce to a draw. He also had a brief and ludicrous MMA and kick-boxing stint.

Feldman hired Canseco to fight at the Passion nightclub in the Hard Rock Cafe, only to find out that Jose substituted himself with his twin brother, Ozzie, and demanded upfront payment of $5,000 in cash.

Feldman said Canseco (pictured... we think) was paid $5,000 in advance for the fight, with another $5,000 due at the fight. Canseco (the Jose version) missed his flight early Friday night from L.A., but when "he" showed up for the weigh-in, Feldman figured all was OK.

Except the first tip that all was not as it seemed came after "Jose" kept requesting to be paid in cash before the fight.

"I told him I had to pay him by check for business reasons," Feldman said. "He said he needed cash. We went back and forth."

"I was confused by why he wrote 'him,''' Feldman said. "I still wasn't going to pay cash, and that's when [Ozzie] walked out,'' Feldman said. "About then people began telling me it wasn't really Jose, too. They pointed to the tattoos on his arms."

Jose has tattoos on his arms, while Ozzie is clean. The twin brother of Jose, who at times subs in for Jose for autographs was then escorted out of the nightclub by police. Jose would later tweet that night "Be very careful with Damon feldman [sic] who runs celebrity boxing he will not pay you if you fight for him." Once the story broke, Canseco would later defend his name on Twitter, saying -- among other things -- "is anyone out there smart enough to figure it out or are you all a bunch of hateful morons[?]"

Feldman then received another text from Canseco Sunday.

"If you pay my brother the $5,000 I will fight for you again and handle all the media that is calling me and make you look good," the text reads. "If not, well, you're on your own."

Needless to say, Feldman wasn't interested and is now seeking the original $5,000 back.

I know we wrote about this the other day, but it's a slow day and Jose Canseco is the gift that keeps on giving.

His latest? He's gone on Twitter and personally asked Sandy Alderson for a chance to play first base for the Mets.

OK, where to start?

Let's just say Canseco can still swing the bat as he did the last time he played (2001 ad forget that 10 years has a negative effect on physical skills (especially from 36 to 46). So, that year he hit 16 home runs in 256 at-bats for the White Sox and put up a slash line of .258/.366/.477.

Sorry Jose, but Ike Davis hit .264/.351/.440 with 19 home runs and 71 RBI in 147 games as a rookie in 2010. I'm think it'll be tough for any 46-year old to match that.

I know we wrote about this the other day, but it's a slow day and Jose Canseco is the gift that keeps on giving.

His latest? He's gone on Twitter and personally asked Sandy Alderson for a chance to play first base for the Mets.

OK, where to start?

Let's just say Canseco can still swing the bat as he did the last time he played (2001 ad forget that 10 years has a negative effect on physical skills (especially from 36 to 46). So, that year he hit 16 home runs in 256 at-bats for the White Sox and put up a slash line of .258/.366/.477.

Sorry Jose, but Ike Davis hit .264/.351/.440 with 19 home runs and 71 RBI in 147 games as a rookie in 2010. I'm think it'll be tough for any 46-year old to match that.

The Oakland A's of the late '80s and early '90s are often seen as the poster boys for the steroid age. They had whisteblower Jose Canseco and the disgraced star, Mark McGwire.

Along with those using, manager Tony La Russa and general manager Sandy Alderson have been accused of turning a blind eye to their sluggers' use of steroids. While he was being introduced as the Mets' new general manager on Friday, Alderson was asked about what kind of knowledge he had of his players' use of steroids.

So he also says that's a time the A's really started stressing weight training and apparently he believe McGwire could make great gains through just weights, while Canseco, he thought, may be cheating. That's the easy way out, despite telling the truth the whole time, Canseco is still seen as a jerk and a punchline, while McGwire gets sympathy for some reason.

Alderson the team "considered drug testing certain players" (read: Canseco) at the time, but then found out it would have been illegal in the state of California and against baseball's collective bargaining agreement (read: not my fault).

"If you go back and sort of put all of that in perspective, do I wish I had done more?" Alderson asked. "I think that's almost always true in retrospect, with almost anything we experience."

It's also easy to find a better scapegoat, and for too many it's Canseco -- who is hardly innocent in this, because he was guilty first and then has acted like a clown since retirement, but has actually told the truth about his use and the use of others.

-- C. Trent Rosecrans

For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsmlb on Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed .

Jose Canseco is attempting a return to Major League Baseball, even as MLB destroys his life.

Recently evicted, Canseco bemoaned writing Juiced , the book that sparked the steroid outrage that permeates the game to this day.

"Mlb has gone out of there way to distroy my life and they have succeded.I didn't realize how powerful they are till now," Canseco wrote on Twitter, adding he has lost everything and has nothing left.

Well, nothing but a gig on an independent minor-league baseball team. Canseco inked a deal with the Laredo (Texas) Broncos, and will serve as a hitter, pitcher and bench coach. In a pinch-hit appearance on Monday, Canseco bombed a home run that was his first professional dinger since October 3, 2001.

United Baseball League commissioner Byron Pierce told the Associated Press that getting Canseco was "one of the highlights of our league. It's a long way from Major League Baseball to the United League, but we're happier than heck to have him here."

Canseco will not embark on road trips with the team, instead choosing to stay behind and work on youth camps as well as preparations for a reality TV show.

Say what you want about Canseco -- and people certainly have -- but even if he exposed the usage of steroids purely for financial gain, he deserves praise for stepping up and saying something instead of being cast as a misfit. Actually, he is one, but he doesn't need to be an ostracized misfit. He was responsible for one of the most important movements in sports history -- the movement against using performance-enhancing supplements.

Finally, science does something useful. A University of Texas at Arlington professor of particle physics, Andrew Brandt, determined Josh Hamilton's June 27 homer off Houston's Roy Oswalt went 490 feet, instead of the measly 468-foot estimated on the day it was hit.

A week after it was hit, Hamilton's tater became the longest hit at Rangers Ballpark, topping Jose Canseco's 1994 blast of 480 feet (though that was syringe-aided).

"This is cool man, I'm glad the Rangers did this," Hamilton told MLB.com . "I'm excited to hold the longest home run in the park."

Brandt combined various data with a measurement of the time of flight of the homer (about five seconds) with the wind and weather to determine the actual trajectory. He determined that the full flight of the ball all the way to the ground level is how he determined the more accurate distance.

"A lot of the other distances of home runs they consider where you hit it to where it reaches the ground," Brandt said. "When you add on that extra distance from the upper deck down to the ground, that gives you an extra 25 or so feet. That's putting you in record kind of territory." -- C. Trent Rosecrans For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsmlb on Twitter.